Harvest to come, Garden Flowers and St Michel en Grèves

It was much cooler this morning, and couldn't make up its mind whether to be sunny or chuck down a heavy shower.

The sunflowers coming up past my sitting room window are now in full bud and almost ready to unfurl their petals.  The plants are not going to win prizes for height, but already reach above my head.  I think they're going to need some vine eyes screwed into the wall to allow a string to support the stems against the wind.

The hot weather we've been having recently, interspersed with occasional heavy showers has meant that the vines are growing really fast and the tiny little pip sized grapes are now swelling up and it looks as if they'll be a good harvest this year.

Another good harvest will be blackberries in a couple of months when they've swelled with juice and turned to a deep purple.  My neighbour who abandoned his house and garden nearly two years ago has brambles everywhere and they are also all along the lanes around here.  Looks like the freezer will be full this year.

My worker worked hard yesterday and dug out the messy ground where I park the car.  There was a lot of mud there which had caused me to slip on more than one occasion after it had been raining.  The area was then lined with weed suppressing membrane and covered with shingle.  Looks much better than before.

This is one of the roses on the driveway

and here is another - I love them.

Although the cats have plenty of water to drink in the house, alongside their food dish, they always seem to prefer drinking out of puddles or, in this case, the pond.

and talking of cats, these are a few flowers hidden under leaves next to the catdoor.

and these mixed up flowers are under the kitchen window.

and this clematis growing to the left of the kitchen window.

This afternoon I drove to Plestin les Grèves on the north coast to see a French woman who has already had the same bypass operation that I'm going to have, at the same hospital with the same surgeon.  She was lovely.  She has done really well and lost 64 kg/141lbs/10st1lb.  She was very confident and told me everything I had wanted to know.  We'll keep in touch.

On the way I stopped at St Michel en Grèves.  The wind was blowing so strongly off the sea that it was really hard to hold the camera steady, even leaning against a post.

As I drove out towards Plestin les Grèves, I came across this house on the side of the road and had to stop.  I will try to find out more about why it is decorated like this.

Three things I like:

1.   Hearing the rain on the landing window.
2.   Eating the chocolate brownie I bought on the way home.
3.  My new photocard system - switch camera on and photographs simply transfer to my laptop.